Wednesday, 30 January 2013

Bulk shopping abroad

I was in Bangkok this week with one of my Hong Kong clients and she decides over breakfast that we should pop by the supermarket to buy a few bits and pieces for the people back home.Upon hearing this, I think to myself that I'll buy my usual modest box of nibbles for the team. Small digression - I generally end up faring rather badly when I bring food back for my colleagues as the only person who actually eats everything is yours truly. I'm still working off the kilo I put on from the box of assorted Lindts I brought back from my last trip. So I try and keep these gifts small and as unappealing to my tastebuds as possible.Anyway, off we go to the supermarket where I choose two boxes of Thai Spice Pretzel Sticks (I am less likely to single handedly devour a box of salty sticks than a box of, say, dried mangoes) and head to the checkout where I am joined by my client who has bought about 2 kg of food! She explains that the instant-noodles-are-so-much-better-than-in-Hong-Kong and that her maid always-drinks-coffee (she says this as she waves 4 bags of coffee in the air) and that you-can't-get-these-corn-flavored-Pockys-anywhere-so-they're-a-must (again waving a family pack of 10 corn Pocky boxes). What ever happened to the idea of bringing back "a little something" from one's travels?With that, she shepherds me back into the dry foods aisles, fills up my basket, sighs with satisfaction and off we leave - my client pleased that she's stocked up on much loved favorites and me having suffered a complete paradigm shift in food gifts.